Musicologica 1/2014 – (Slovensky) Musicologica

Jazz Inspirations in the 20th Century Classical Slovak Music – the Music of Alexander Moyzes and His Successors

Ľubomír Chalupka · 12.06.2014 · Musicologica 1/2014, Rock Pop Jazz, Contemporary Music

The generation of Slovak composers known as Slovak Musical Modernism, who emerged in the late 1920s and during the 1930s, adopted a concept of creative synthesis of the national sources (especially inspirations from folk music) with the influences of European impressionist and expressionist music. One of the Slovak Musical Modernism composers was Alexander Moyzes (1906-1984). The jazz elements that appeared in his early compositions were an exceptional impulse and response to the avant-garde musical milieu of the 1920s’ Prague, where Moyzes studied. However, such compositions met with sharp objections from the music critics in Bratislava. This not only turned Moyzes away from using jazz elements for the rest of his compositional career, but was also followed by their long-term absence in Slovak music for stylistic and political reasons. Although a short revival occurred when some of Slovak Music’s avant-garde emerged in the 1960s (Jozef Malovec and Tadeáš Salva, for example), jazz did not become a legitimately accepted source of new creative projects until the next generation of postmodern composers in the last quarter of the 20th century. Its shaping personalities, such as Peter Martinček, Norbert Bodnár and Peter Breiner, erased the traditional and conventional boundaries between the musical genres in contemporary Slovak music.

Čítať ďalej

Postmodern Mutations of Jazz Idioms in Slovak Alternative Music

Július Fujak · 12.06.2014 · Musicologica 1/2014, Rock Pop Jazz

The article deals with the transformations of various jazz style elements in the projects of Slovak musical alternative in the post-modern times, and their appropriations by the form of trans-genre re-contextualisation and fusion, or a persiflage and a parody. Their qualities and specificities will be demonstrated on the records and performances of Slovak alternative rock groups in the last two decades of the 20th century (Ali Ibn Rachid, Teória Odrazu, Jesus Underground band, and 100 Múch), and of contemporary composers or “comprovisers” (Andrej Šeban and Július Fujak). Style-genre mutations of jazz or jazzrock idioms in the works and the projects of Slovak alternative music will be reflected on using the method of aesthetic interpretation of their signification in the musical and cultural context.

Čítať ďalej

Jazz-rock and Fusion Music in Slovakia

Michal Baláž · 12.06.2014 · Musicologica 1/2014, Rock Pop Jazz

The syntheses of jazz and rock music in Slovakia have had their own specific development. This paper illustrates the historical development of Slovakian jazzrock and fusion music and its parallels and differences compared with such styles in the Czech Republic, world music and music of American provenance. The author aims to answer questions about the definitions of jazzrock and fusion music related to their stages of development within the history of non-classical music in Slovakia. By musical analysis of selected and transcribed compositions, the author points out the significant style-forming elements in jazzrock and fusion music.

Čítať ďalej

Fly Me to the Moon “in Other Words”: Diana Krall, Nat King Cole and Frank Sinatra

Zuzana Ben Lassoued · 12.06.2014 · Musicologica 1/2014, Rock Pop Jazz

For listeners, jazz singers are the most admired instrumentalists even though their place in jazz history has been largely overlooked in the literature on jazz. Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald, Diana Krall, Louis Armstrong, Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra and Michael Bublé are amongst the hundred greatest jazz vocalists; however, their role in jazz production and the music industry has been regarded as entertainers rather than as artists. Although singer’s function has been increased before bebop in big bands, developing new styles as hard bop, modal jazz, free jazz and jazz-rock decreased their performance and popularity among jazz musicians and scholars.
David Ake examines the jazz pianists prior to bebop who often served a dual function both as pianists and singers. Recently, another scholar, Yvetta Kajanová explored Diana Krall, the “Frank Sinatra in a skirt”, and her versatility. Krall demonstrates not only a white female multi-instrumentalist’s control, but also represents a new artistic direction for developing conservative, traditional jazz styles in an elegant manner.
In this paper I compare Diana Krall’s interpretation of Fly Me to the Moon (written by Bart Howard in 1954), the standard popular song originally titled In Other Words, with Nat King Cole’s and Frank Sinatra’s interpretations. I also examine Krall’s inspirational sources such as Sinatra’s “white swing” and his vocal interpretation, and Cole’s piano and vocal combination with attention to such musical aspects as rhythmic phrasing, harmony and piano stylization. In addition, the paper discusses and evaluates multi-ethnic aspects, such as the influence of race and social background as with Sinatra’s Sicilian roots and his political involvement, Cole’s African – American roots and his experience with segregation, and Krall’s Slovakian roots linked to her great grandparents’ emigration from Central Europe at the turn of the 20th century. These are three clear examples of musicians whose different social and cultural origins have resolved into different musical arrangements. I argue that Diana Krall is not just “a commercial entertainer” in the music industry, as it seems to many critics, but she is an eminent jazz artist with a significant feminine role in jazz history. This paper is contributes to the discourse on the evolution of vocal jazz illustrating the contradictions between music and politics, and evaluates the role of a prominent female vocalist in jazz history.

Čítať ďalej

Willis Conover – An European Jazz Personality?

Rüdiger Ritter · 12.06.2014 · Musicologica 1/2014, Rock Pop Jazz

Willis Conover’s character was all but European. In fact, he was strongly American, a radio broadcaster who devoted himself to the dissemination of American jazz. Through his broadcasts, he helped to create and shape European jazz in a subtle, but nevertheless very effective way. Because of Conover’s unique position as a broadcaster, especially in the 1950s and 1960s, his jazz broadcasts were the only possibility for Eastern Bloc listeners to hear American jazz. When Conover visited Eastern Bloc countries such as Poland, the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, Hungary, and the Soviet Union, he established a mutual jazz distribution system. He attended Eastern Bloc jazz festivals, obtained tapes and then broadcasted them over Voice of America. Conover even created special jazz shows for radio stations in these countries. With the help of gatekeepers like Andrzej Jaroszewski, Stanislav Titzl, Imre Kiss, and Aleksey Batashev he established a firm network that survived for decades and helped to strengthen jazz in Europe even while jazz in America was losing its former strong position. However, it is important to note that Conover did not simply promote all forms of jazz. He organized his broadcasts according to his own musical preferences: jazz classics such as Duke Ellington or Stan Kenton played an important role, but he disregarded all manner of jazzrock trends. He also rejected, or at least neglected, some of the most important European jazz musicians, for example Krzysztof Komeda or the Ganelin Trio. So, Conover was not the father of European jazz, as the ‘Conover myth’ wants us to believe. But it seems Conover had a decisive role at least for the evolving jazz scenes in Eastern Bloc countries. Here, Conover was highly appreciated, whereas in the western part of Europe he was largely unknown. The reason was that his broadcasts were a part of the USA’s Cold War cultural diplomacy and as such were directed to the eastern part of Europe.
What jazz music did Conover broadcast and which musicians did he support? The question draws us into the history of cultural relations with its coincidental events and misunderstandings. This paper discusses the perceptions of Conover’s historical place.

Čítať ďalej

The Value of the Traditional and the Progressive in Jazz Development

Yvetta Kajanová · 12.06.2014 · Musicologica 1/2014, Rock Pop Jazz

Recently, two important syntheses on European jazz have been published: Eurojazzland:Jazz and European Sources, Dynamics, and Contexts by Luca Cerchiari, Laurent Cugny and Franz Kerschbaumer (2012); and Jazz behind the Iron Curtain by Gertrud Pickhan and Rüdiger Ritter (2009). The publications show the division of European jazz scenes between east and west, and they also deal with the methodological inconsistencies in jazz research and analysis which have precluded an integrated chronological approach to jazz events, personalities and styles. Progress, although regarded as the foremost quality, is not the only value in jazz development; and, especially since the death of Miles Davis, it has become a rather vague one. On the other hand, for the further development of jazz it is essential to respect the genre‘s traditions which foster jazz personalities to preserve the older jazz styles; however, for the future of jazz, qualities such as creative musicianship, innovation, jazz promotion and education, advocacy and popularization are equally important. These values are demonstrated by such personalities as the Slovak jazz singer Peter Lipa (b.1943) and the Czech-Slovak- Australian jazz pianist Viktor Zappner (b.1936).

Čítať ďalej

“I ain’t playing no jazz” – Towards the musical style of The Zawinul Syndicate

Franz Krieger · 12.06.2014 · Musicologica 1/2014, Rock Pop Jazz

Joe Zawinul’s 55-year musical career was marked by three major periods: his stint with Cannonball Adderley (1961–1970), the ensemble Weather Report (1970 – ca. 1986) and his own The Zawinul Syndicate (1988–2007). Thus considered, his stylistic development began with hard bop and soul, paving the way for his own debut jazz-rock recordings (1966), then continuing to more avant-garde, experimental forms with Miles Davis (1968–1970), and finally leading to a broader combination of jazz-rock and what came to be known as world music – and what Zawinul himself considered to be something other than jazz. This final chapter in Zawinul’s career, essentially congruent with the Zawinul Syndicate period, is the focus of this study. Zawinul’s musical style with the Syndicate – in particular his sound, harmony, conception of time, musical density and ballad playing – is first considered. Further, the issue of whether or not stylistic elements typical of the Syndicate era were present with Weather Report, or even earlier, is discussed. Hence, such elements can be traced back to his early career, emerging as characteristics not only of his work in the last two decades, but also of the musician in general.

Čítať ďalej